Washington, February 19, 2009
Heritage Vice President Stuart Butler and Roe Institute
Director Alison Fraser, along with a dozen other leading budgetary
experts from think tanks across the political spectrum, today
urged President Barack Obama to follow up his recently
announced "Financial Responsibility Summit" with (1) leading a
sustained "national conversation" on entitlement and budgetary
reform and (2) working to establish an independent, bi-partisan
commission to develop a comprehensive fiscal reform package that
would receive an up-or-down vote in Congress. The full text
of the statement is below.
Statement on the Fiscal Responsibility
Summit
February 19, 2009
President Obama's intention to convene
a fiscal responsibility summit is a very welcome development. It
offers a valuable opportunity to focus public attention on our
nation's unsustainable budget outlook and to highlight various
approaches to meaningful action.
As a group of budget analysts and
former senior budget officials, we view this summit as the first
step to addressing the enormous long-term fiscal problem facing the
United States. Without decisive action this problem will lead to
serious harm to our economy and a huge financial burden on our
children and grandchildren.
Tackling these problems will require a
degree of sacrifice impossible under the existing policy process,
which discourages bipartisan compromise and encourages
procrastination and obstructionism. Unless those procedures are
modified, and the American people are engaged in the process,
future legislative attempts to address the looming fiscal crisis
will almost certainly fail.
In our view, the American people are
ready to confront the challenge. For the last three years several
of us have traveled around the country as a group, discussing these
issues with thousands of Americans in dozens of cities, in a
bipartisan effort known as the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour. We have found
that when Americans are given the facts and options in a neutral
and bipartisan way, they want action and are willing to make
difficult trade-offs.
We therefore urge the President to lead
a major public engagement effort - beyond a oneday summit - to
inform Americans of the scale and nature of the long-term fiscal
crisis, explain the consequences of inaction and discuss the
options for solving the problem. This should be bipartisan, and
involve a serious conversation with Americans to help guide action
in Washington. As a group with some experience in this domain, we
stand ready to assist if needed.
We also believe that for this policy
commitment to produce tangible results, the President and others
who share the goal of fiscal responsibility must address the fact
that the regular political process has been incapable of dealing
with long-term fiscal issues. We see no alternative but to create
an independent and truly bipartisan commission or other mechanism
capable of bringing about decisive action that has broad public
support. We therefore urge the President to support such a
commission. For this commission or some other mechanism to break
through the legislative logjam it will need four key elements:
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It must be truly bipartisan and
develop solutions that command wide support.
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It must have a broad mandate to
address all aspects of the fiscal problem while fostering strong
economic growth.
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There must be no preconditions to the
deliberations. All options must be on the table for discussion.
Nobody should be required to agree in advance to any option.
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Recommendations must go before
Congress for an up-or-down vote with few if any amendments. Such a
game-changing process is not without precedents; controversial
military base closings or the ratification of international trade
agreements, for example, have long been governed by special rules
along these lines, not by business as usual.
We are deeply worried about the
long-term fiscal imbalance and the dangers it carries for the
economy and for our children and grandchildren. We know the
President is concerned as well, as are many Members of Congress in
both political parties. We are ready to help in building public
understanding of the problem and the options, and in crafting an
approach that will enable the legislative process to deal with the
problem.
This statement is offered by members of the
Brookings-Heritage Fiscal Seminar. The views expressed
are those of the individuals involved and should not be
interpreted as representing the views of their
respective institutions. For purposes of identification, the
affiliation of each signatory is listed.
Signatories:
Joe Antos
American Enterprise Institute
Will Marshall
Progressive Policy Institute
Robert Bixby
Concord Coalition
Pietro Nivola
Brookings Institution
Stuart Butler
Heritage Foundation
Rudolph Penner
Urban Institute
Alison Fraser
Heritage Foundation
Robert Reischauer
Urban Institute
William Galston
Brookings Institution
Alice M. Rivlin
Brookings Institution
Ron Haskins
Brookings Institution
Isabel Sawhill
Brookings Institution
Julia Isaacs
Brookings Institution
C. Eugene Steuerle
Peter G. Peterson Foundation